


How Do You Bury a Flower?

by Shartos



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Post Pacifist Route, Spoilers, also the others are here but they arent super major, does it count as major character death when it's a plant?, forever sad about asriel, past death, there's a dead character through most of this basically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-10
Updated: 2015-11-10
Packaged: 2018-04-30 22:18:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5181749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shartos/pseuds/Shartos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the barrier was destroyed, you made occasional journeys to the Underground.</p>
<p>On one of these journeys, you found the remains of an old enemy, and an old friend.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>(Post True Pacifist route, Frisk deals with their mixed emotions towards the late flower.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	How Do You Bury a Flower?

Now the world was at peace. It had been for some time. You and your friends, along with all the monsters you met (and some you didn’t) in the Underground, had successfully made it to the surface world to live out your lives. Humans, uneasy at first, had soon grown accustomed to their new neighbors.  
But still, the border had been destroyed. The Underground was still perfectly intact, totally unchanged from its prior state aside from the lack of monsters. Naturally, the movement to the surface had been a huge transition, and some monsters took longer than others to make the shift. There have been many trips to any from old homes to the new, and you often found yourself accompanying them. After all, though it was a lifelong home to many, you still found it intensely engrossing. Without the constant threat of capture, or worse, you could finally find the time to appreciate the culture under the mountain.  
It was one of these excursions that found you back inside the Ruins. Toriel had taken a few of her own trips here, murmuring things about pie recipes and the plants she “couldn’t dare abandon!” in her old home. Truly, what would you have done without the recipe for snail pie?  
After splitting ways with a Froggit you had listened to many times now, you wandered through the purple halls of the early Ruins. It amused you to see Toriel’s careful markings around the switches, still there after all this time, if slightly faded. She still wasn’t a very subtle instructor, but the children adored her. Everyone did, naturally.  
Your foot crunched against grass. A dim ring of light drifted from the distant ceiling. Thinking of Toriel had brought you to where you two had met. Of course, it wasn’t the only introduction to take place…  
You clutched the end of your sleeve. You marched on, not letting the haunting patch faze you.  
A long worn arch hung over your head while you passed through it. You recall your confusion when you stepped through it the first time, and your bittersweet state returning through it to see Asriel one last time. Currently, however, your focus was on the familiar pile of golden flowers. They were immaculate as always (the slightly crushed ones from your fall notwithstanding). Or so you thought. There was one flower, perfectly in the center, that sat withered among its fellows.  
You knew it was Flowey. The face gave it away, but you wouldn’t recognize him otherwise. The air lacked his malice. His body lay on the ground, rather than sticking up. Most of all, his face was at peace. You stepped gingerly towards the… corpse? You didn’t know the term for a dead flower. Indeed, his stem was dry. The leaves lie crumpled on the ground near him. A few petals had fallen, the rest browned. Unsure of why, your hands went to cradle the head.  
So, his determination ran out, then? Or perhaps he merely withered. Even with the will to live, wasn’t he a flower still? The only flower never attended to.  
You couldn’t tell when the tears started. When Flowey’s face was tranquil, he resembled his former self, alarmingly so. You remembered your promise, and tried to purge the thought. If there was one thing you could do for Asriel, it was to keep him separate from what he became. Especially since you couldn’t do anything else for him. Another sob tore through you.  
No. There was one other thing you could do. You could honor what had been lost.  
You debated how to arrange the site. Would it be in bad taste to leave flowers? Would you bury him? You knew little about human ceremonies, even less about how to respect flora. You considered, then dug your hands into the dirt. After ensuring you weren’t disturbing the other roots, you tugged upwards.  
It was a simple endeavor. Flowey had been able to follow you through the Underground, after all, so what remained of his roots were no trouble. You moved automatically, standing and going back through the Ruins to the exit of the Underground. One hand kept the clump of dirt intact, the other kept the head against your shoulder. Toriel’s concerned voice barely registered, but she understood immediately and went to fetch a container. Together you patted the soil into a simple canister, one that allowed the stalk to lean against the rim and free your hands to both hold the makeshift vase.  
Next you two went to Asgore’s gardens. He seemed pleased, then surprised, and finally concerned when he saw you, Toriel and flower, respectively. Inquiring what brought you here, he was cut off when you asked where the village was. The king seemed uncertain, but your and Toriel’s faces broke through his apprehension. He nodded, and led you towards a town, slightly hazy from the lowering sun’s beams. Asgore explained that the village, though unmoved from its location, had developed. The flowers still grew rampant there. He had gone there after some encouragement from your friends; after all, if monsters and humans were to live together, what better place to start than to repair old wounds? It was welcoming now.  
Closer to the town, you came across Alphys and Undyne. You felt she should know, and after looking frightened for a moment, you could tell the scientist was grateful. She asked to accompany you, and of course you accepted. Undyne naturally wanted to be there for Alphys, and so your party grew. Before you proceeded further, you called Papyrus. It only seemed right that the brothers be here, the group that knew anything about the flower’s existence should be present to remember it.  
You saw the disparate silhouettes of the skeletons against the horizon in the town’s plaza. For once, both of them were silent, only nodding in acknowledgement when they saw you. They joined the group behind you, and you made your way through the town to a huge field of golden flowers, alight with the evening sunlight. Surely, the townspeople would be confused by this odd group of a human and monsters holding a procession over a dead plant. They could stay curious. Right now, you had something to do.  
You turned to the others, giving them a look to stay there. This was something you needed to do, just the two of you. You waded through the petals to a small clearing, where still the traces of ancient scars were visible. You parted the dirt with the trowel Asgore lent you when he heard your intentions. Hands trembling, you lifted the body from its vase and laid it in the earth. You shifted the soil to keep the stem upright, letting the calm face point towards the sun. You figured he would have liked to see it again. In the light, you once again saw Asriel in his expression. Would his SOUL be at rest now? You had an inexplicable faith that it was.  
Your tears wet the ground again. Hands clasped your shoulders and the shapes of your friends shielded your eyes from the sun. No words were said. All of you remained there until the stars covered the sky. When you finally made yourself wipe your eyes, the others helped you stand, Toriel fretting over the chill. You asked for a moment alone while the others went their separate ways, and she nodded understandingly.  
You let yourself remember the being in front of you. Flowey, Asriel. Both, yet now, neither. The searing pain of Flowey’s deceiving attack, and the clinging softness of your comforting hug with Asriel. You could feel all of it after the numbness you tried to maintain surrounding thoughts of them. You had stopped crying, but your emotions flooded you still. You pulled the toy knife from your pocket and stabbed it into the ground in front of the husk. It needed some marker. The thought of someone disturbing him distressed you in ways you couldn’t name.  
Satisfied with your work, you stepped back to examine it one last time. It was absurdly simple. Both of them would want it that way. You went to take Toriel’s hand, and spared a glance on your way out.  
The sight of your friend and enemy’s remains…  
It fills you with determination.


End file.
